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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26125957">Veni Vidi Vito</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunarpaddle/pseuds/lunarpaddle'>lunarpaddle</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Blaseball (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Ghosts, Undeath</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 08:48:12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,247</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26125957</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunarpaddle/pseuds/lunarpaddle</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Veni Vidi Vito</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There were a lot more undead folks around than there used to be. Mostly ghosts, of course - lotta people died in that whole donut fiascso, but a lot of them came back too, what with all the mess - but still, Vito used to be the only undead type round here, and it was a lot calmer back then. Lot of questions, of course, but once people knew the deal that was that.</p>
<p>Now?</p>
<p>"Hey, uh, Kravitz? John's causing a mess down at the old factory, kickin' up a stink about the land rights." </p>
<p>This was Mina, who was a ghost that he knew - he knew most of the ghosts around here these days.</p>
<p>"Ugh, is it urgent? I'm trying to get this old piece of junk working, and it's not like the fen-maids can <i>hurt</i> him or anything."</p>
<p>"When do you ever sell anything that works?" Mina snorts. "Besides, you know how the fen-maids get, they're just mad at him now but sooner or later they're gonna start taking it out on the humans, and then there'll be a whole mess, and - "</p>
<p>"Alright! Alright, I'll go calm the jerk down. Go grab Cali for me, you know she's the only one who the fen-maids will listen to when they're really riled up."</p>
<p>Vito didn't know how he'd ended up as some kinda, speaker for the dead type deal - sure, he was the only one that could touch shit, so a bunch of the ghosts came to him for help with that kinda thing, but this stuff? He didn't need to touch anything for this! Just one day it had been lost rings and old papers, and the next it was lost souls and crying kids, and who could say no to a crying kid? God knows it'd only gotten worse after Beck recruited him - the people here <i>idolised</i> the Flowers, and all the ghosts had been pumped to all hell to have someone undead on the team.</p>
<p>Thankfully, it wasn't too far to the old factory, or The Old Factory to be specific - there were plenty of old Dunkies factories around the city, but this was the biggest, and after it had sunken half into the water the fen-maids had taken it over as a kinda in-between with the surface world, somewhere to sell wares and meet friends who couldn't breathe underwater. It was a lovely place, to be honest, and he'd even had some luck selling some cars here - some fen-maid a few months back had wanted to try and design underwater cars, and she'd bought a bunch of junk shells off of him for a tidy sum. You'd have to be an idiot to start a fight in this place, when everyone knew how vicious the maids could be, but John <i>was</i> an idiot, so this wasn't exactly a shock.</p>
<p>"This is Dunkies Donuts land! This is - this is corporate owned land, you better get outta here right now, or - this is against the law, you know! You're trespassing! Impeding business! You better get outta here right now, or I'll - " John is interrupted by a fen-maid screeching and diving right through him, which knocks the wind out of him for the second Vito needs to get a word in.</p>
<p>"John, what the hell? You've pulled some stupid shit, but you <i>know</i> not to mess with the fen-maids, and you were agreeing with me just last week that the stuff Dunkies did was fucked up! You said you thought it was better this way!"</p>
<p>John pauses, and turns to stare at Vito. His beard, although not particularly long, blows lightly in a wind that cannot be felt, and his eyes grow clouded.</p>
<p>"I - you - Vito? What're you doing here, what's -" He cuts off again as another fen-maid leaps through him, but there's no real reaction this time - he just stares ahead, as if unseeing.</p>
<p>Shit.</p>
<p>This had been happening, recently - ghosts weren't supposed to stick around too long, 'specially if they'd finished their unfinished business, and John certainly had. He'd been fuming when Vito first met him, spouting nonsense about eco-terrorist sabotage and communist plots. It'd taken years for him to stop floating around giving people shit for no good reason, but when Vito got on the team he managed to get the guy a chat with Dunn, and she'd given him a tour around the headquarters, talked some things through with him. He didn't know what had been said, really, but John had been a lot better after that - still liable to say some stupid stuff, of course, but more in the way of being a blunt old man than a bigot.</p>
<p>John wasn't supposed to be here anymore, but like many other's like him, he'd decided immortality wasn't as bad as people made it out to be - he was having a good time, he had plenty of friends who were also dead, and who knew? Maybe some of his living friends would end up sticking around too. John didn't want to go, but the city wanted him to go, and it was just gonna get worse for him the longer he stayed.</p>
<p>"Hey, uh, guys?" He turned to the seething fen-maids. "I'm really sorry about my friend here, he's a bit of a mess right now, forgetting things left and right - you gonna be cool if I take him outta here?"</p>
<p>The maids didn't even respond with words, just hissing more.</p>
<p>"Guys, cmon, you gotta work with me here - "</p>
<p>The entire factory went quiet, and the plants covering the walls started to twist and curl. Thank fuck.</p>
<p>"Hey, Cali, thanks for showing up. You mind sorting things out here? John's starting to fade pretty bad, reckon he needs to be looked after." </p>
<p>Cali nods (he hadn't always been able to recognise her nods, but after a while on the team you got used to these things), and moves to talk to the maids.</p>
<p>Vito gestures to John, who blankly assents and starts heading towards the door.</p>
<p>"Oh, by the way, do you know where abouts Dunn is? Don't know if it'll work, but reckon she has better odds talking John down than the rest of us." </p>
<p>Cali shifts and flows thoughtfully, until her tendrils shape themselves into the letters H and Q - that'd be the Dunkies HQ, then.</p>
<p>"Wicked, thanks Cal - see you at training tomorrow?" Cali nods again, and he walks out the door, John trailing behind him.</p>
<p>---</p>
<p>Caligula didn't have too much trouble calming down the Maids, plying them with offers of help with shaping the Overgrowth for their troubles - most things in this city knew that she could help them out with things, and they also knew that she genuinely cared, so they tended to go along with what she had to say.</p>
<p>Vito cared genuinely too, for the spirits and the fading - he looked after them, like she looked after the green and the growing. He didn't show it, even to himself, but she'd come to learn that was normal for the people here - Beck didnt show herself how strong she was, and Dunn didn't show herself how reliable she was, and Chambers didn't show himself how much better he'd be in a different position. She wondered, sometimes, if there were things she didn't show herself - how exciting, if there were.</p>
<p>The grass at her feet reached up to tell her that Hotbox had managed to get sucked into some vents (again), and she made her way off once more.</p>
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